HTTYD Forging a Different Path
by CaptainEMP
Summary: This is a Hiccstrid runaway AU. Hiccup and Astrid are each others equals in combat, size and skills. They trained themselves to be able to survive on their own if they got thrown out. With Astrid's help, Hiccup will forge a new world with his own hands. (Inspired by Nightstar Fury's Something New story.) Rework of first four chapters in the works! Chapter Five is out!
1. This is Berk

**HTTYD: Forging a Different Path** **Chapter 1**

 _ **This is a Hiccup and Astrid runaway AU. Also, some of the characters will seem a bit OOC, but considering how the background of this story is, it's to be expected that it's going to be different from the canon. What if Astrid stayed with Hiccup through the years instead of blocking everyone out and becoming what she is in the first movie. This chapter and the following chapter is going to be more or less like the movie up until Hiccup is ready to leave. So please bare with me as I develop the story.**_

 _ **And yes, I have redone this chapter.**_

 ** _ **Narrative Speech this chapter only**_**

"This is normal speech"

 _'This is normal thoughts'_

 _"_ _ _This is dragon speech_ "_

 ** _' **This** _ **is dragon thoughts '**__**

Disclaimer: I do not own anything of Dreamworks or HTTYD characters. I do own any OC's that might appear in this story.

* * *

 ** **Narrative POV****

 _ _ **This is Berk.**__

 _ _ **It's twelve days north of hopeless, and a few degrees south of freezing to death. It's located on the meridian of misery.**__

 _ _ **This place is like most other villages out here in the Archipelago, only there is one main difference…**__

 _ _ **Instead of having to deal with minor pests like mice or mosquitoes, we have… dragons.**__

 _ _ **Now most people would leave this place thinking that it's a lost cause, but not us, we're Vikings.**__

 _ _ **We have stubbornness issues.**__

 **Hiccup's POV**

I rush towards the door to leave and as I open it, a Monstrous Nightmare flies in and hovers in front of my home. It then spots me and I'm forced to slam the door shut to avoid getting burned as it shoots fire towards me.

 _'My name is Hiccup, Hiccup Horrendous Haddock the Third. Great name I know, but it's not the worst. Most parents believe a hideous name will frighten gnomes and trolls, like our charming Viking demeanor wouldn't do that.'_

I started going towards the forge and barely avoid getting hit in the head by a log carried by two Vikings when a Gronkle shot at the ground, aiming at a near by Viking. The blast knocks me to the ground, and the Viking that the Gronkle had aimed at flew into my face and shouted "Morning."

I'm about halfway to the forge when suddenly a Nadder fired a line of fire in front of me and before I run into the flames a large hand grabs me.

"What is he doing out/what are you doing out? Go get inside!" Stoick the Vast yells at me.

That's Stoick the Vast, Chief of the Tribe. There's a rumor to which he pulled a dragon's head clean off it's shoulder when he was a baby. Do I believe it? Not really.

I arrive at the forge to find that Gobber is working on some war hammers. Astrid is polishing some repaired swords before handing them to the people outside. I grab some tools from the window and get them heated up on the furnace to soften the metal to start repairs.

 ** **Normal POV****

Gobber greets Hiccup "Ah! Nice for you to join the party. I thought you'd been carried off."

"Who? Me? Nah, I'm way too muscular for their tastes. Besides, if they did get to me they wouldn't know what to do with all, this." Hiccup gestures to himself striking a bodybuilder pose.

"They need toothpicks don't they?" Astrid asked after Hiccup's comment.

"Oh, not you too Astrid." Hiccup groans. Both Gobber and Astrid chuckle.

Now Hiccup and Astrid are Gobber's apprentices, they've been working in the forge since they were little, well littler…

Hiccup starts pumping the bellows to heat up the metal after picking up one of Gobber's hand attachments and puts it on the shelf where the other attachments are. Then he takes a sword off the furnace and starts repairing it while Astrid starts polishing another set of weapons.

Someone shouts "They've found the sheep!"

Stoick the Vast responds by shouting out some orders to counter attack using the catapults and send some reinforcements to the lower reaches of the village.

 ** _ **Yep, a typical day for Berk. This war has been going on for three centuries and there seems to be no end in sight.**_**

 ** **Hiccup's POV****

I go to look outside and notice a house catching on fire after a Nadder passed by and think, 'Old village, lots and lots of new houses. Why can't they just build them out of stone or something less flammable.' Than after someone shouted "Fire!" I notice the other teens of Berk, whose job is putting out fires, are rushing towards the burning house. As they start to put out the fire a Gronkle shots right behind them and pretty much finished off the house.

I laugh at them because my job is so much cooler than theirs.

Let me introduce the rest of the teens. First off there's Snotlout, my cousin and main bully.

Then there's the twins Ruffnut and Tuffnut. They love to cause chaos and also help Snotlout bully me.

And last is Fishlegs, a husky boy who's an encyclopedia of facts and statistics about dragons. That might be annoying, but he's a good friend who helps where he can.

Oh, also there's Astrid. The next generation of shield maidens for Berk, or that's what everyone is suppose to think. Thing is, she's been my girlfriend since we were thirteen, and best friends before that. No one knows that besides Gobber, Gothi and Astrid's parents.

Oh, and if you're wondering why she's here in the forge instead of being part of the fire brigade, well… for one, she prefers it to running around and wasting time throwing water at buildings that are on fire, knowing full well that more than likely it couldn't be put out and a waste of time. For two, let's just say a certain someone, (Snotlout) thought that he would be a better captain and also wouldn't stop flirting with her, not focusing on the task at hand.

Besides, she likes staying close to me as much as possible.

Anyways, as I was lost in thought Gobber picks me up by my shirt and I say, "Ah come on, let me out please, I need to make my mark."

"You've made plenty of marks, all in the wrong places." As Gobber says this I make my way to my latest invention, the Mangler. Even though I can use a hammer, sword and axe, I can't throw a bola which is the reason for the Mangler. Astrid and I have worked on it for a month now and we've got it to work properly, though there is still a mild calibration issue.

I continue, "Please two minutes, I kill a dragon and be worthy enough for Astrid and I can publicly show that we're a couple without her being ridiculed. Ow!" Astrid punches me in the shoulder as I finished and says, "You are more than worthy enough for me, remember that you're the only other teen that is equal to me in combat and even though you don't like to fight, you could beat up Snotlout easy." Gobber joins in, "That's true. I know you want out there, but the truth is, the village would treat you like one of them for a little while then go back to the way they're treating you now."

I then touch the Mangler and it shoots outside and hits a villager in the face and I call out, "Whoops, sorry. Mild calibration issue."

"See what I mean Hiccup, for you to be accepted you would have to stop all...this."Gobber gestures to me.

"You just gestured to all of me." I deadpan.

"And I'm sure that all that raw Vikingness of yours can't be contained to much longer or there will be consequences. Sword. Sharpen. Now." Gobber replies sarcastically, ending the conversation.

I pick up a sword and start to sharpen it and as I do that I start to think about the different dragons and what kind of reputation it would bring me. Even though what Gobber said is true, I still have to try.

A Nadder head would at least get me noticed.

Then there's the Gronkle, a tough dragon that would definitely get me the reputation I need to show that I am worthy of Astrid.

I'm glad she can't read my mind or that would get me another punch in the shoulder.

The Zippleback, two heads, twice the status. Also very tricky to take down, it's gas can make you light headed and the perfect smoke screen for it to escape.

Then there's the Monstrous Nightmare, only the best Vikings go after those. They are hard to kill, especially when it sets itself on fire.

I stand up hearing a building ballistic moaning sound. Only one dragon does that. The ultimate prize, the Night Fury. No one has seen this dragon, the only way you know it's coming is by the sound it makes when it's about to fire.

I rush to the window to see it shoot one of the catapults.

This thing never steals food, never shows itself and... never misses.

This was the main reason that I came up with the Mangler.

Oh look, it looks like Gobber is getting prepared to join the fighting, this might be my chance.

 ** **Normal POV****

"Hold the fort Hiccup, they need me out there. Stay. Put. There. You know what I mean. Ahhh!" Gobber says as he leaves to join the fighting.

Of course Hiccup isn't one to listen and leaves with the Mangler with Astrid tailing him.

Hiccup runs up to the ledge near the forge and deploys the Mangler. Astrid stays in the shadows so that if something happens to Hiccup she can help him.

Once the Mangler deploys, Hiccup gets ready to shoot upon hearing the Night Fury starting its attack run.

All the while Stoick is taking down a group of Nadders that have surrounded some sheep with a large net down below.

 ** **Astrid POV****

I watch Hiccup setting up the Mangler, which seems to be working properly at the moment. Then he says to himself, "Come on, give me something to shoot at, give me something to shoot at." Then we hear a roar and then the ballistic moaning sound builds, I think to myself, _'He built this for the Night Fury?! Wow, he wasn't kidding when he told me about going after the Night Fury. Let's hope this works.'_

As the Night Fury fires, we see it's shadow and Hiccup fires the Mangler and we hear it scream as it falls down towards Raven's point. _'That's a little too close to our cove than I would like it to be.'_

Hiccup shouts, "Yes I hit it! Did anyone see that?"

"I sure did babe." I reply somewhat startling him.

Then a Monstrous Nightmare came up and stepped on the Mangler. "Oh crap, you saw that too didn't you." Is Hiccup's sarcastic response and then we both start running. I managed to slip behind a house, but before I could grab Hiccup to follow me he runs towards one of the torches that are used for seeing the dragons at night.

 **Normal POV**

As Hiccup runs he noticed the night torch and while dodging the Nightmare's fire he slips behind the torch hoping that it won't find him. He then goes to peak on the other side while the Nightmare is coming up from behind when Stoick runs into it and pushes out of the way. As the Nightmare tries to shoot fire at him and fails, so Stoick says, "You're all out." After a few heavy punches the Nightmare leaves and Stoick turns around looking at the torches pole as it collapses revealing Hiccup standing right behind it.

Hiccup watches the torch roll down the hill and cringes at the damage. Then he looks at Stoick saying, "Sorry Dad."

 **Hiccup's POV**

I tried to tell him I shot down a Night Fury, but did he listen, nooo. And saying that every time I step outside disaster falls upon the village, that hurts… really hurts. He's more of a Chief than a father. Things use to be so much better when I was younger.

I think it's getting close for me to leave this place. And knowing Astrid, she would follow me no matter what I say.

After Gobber's pep talk I head inside to check on my banished, exile/escape bag. I then go out the back door to start my search of the Night Fury. _'If my dad says I'm not a dragon killer, what am I?'_

 ** **Astrid's POV****

 _'Really Chief? In front of the village? And saying that disaster falls the second he steps outside, that's harsh. I can see why Hiccup would feel like leaving and I would follow._ _It's as bad as when Uncle Finn was frozen and killed by the Flightmare, the village_ _said that Hofferson's_ _we_ _ren't_ _so_ _fearless a_ _fter_ _all. It basically ruined my family's honor, w_ _e_ _we_ _re known for being fearless._ _'_

As I approach Hiccup's house I hear him leave through the back door. That crazy boyfriend of mine is going to search for the Night Fury by himself, might as well join him.

* * *

 ** _ **That's it for chapter one. Thanks for reading!**_**


	2. A dragon will always go for the kill

**HTTYD: Forging a Different Path Chapter 2**

 **Welcome back to another chapter of Forging a Different Path. Enjoy!**

* * *

 **Thanks for all the feedback! I wasn't expecting to get any reviews for a few days, but you guys blew my mind. To clear up any confusion, Hiccup and Astrid have been a couple since they were 13, before that they were best friends so Hiccup is a bit more confident then in the movie. PM me if you have any ideas for the story or need me to clarify anything.**

 **Yes, I did re-edit this chapter. I hope that it's properly paced now.**

 **Shout out to** **Marcus S. Lazarus for the advice.**

"This is normal speech"

 _'This is normal thoughts'_

 _" This is dragon speech"_

 **' _This is dragon thoughts'_**

* * *

 **Normal POV**

After cleaning up from the raid, Stoick called for a meeting to discuss plans for another search for the nest. Of course there was protests of going, but after saying those who stay on Berk will watch after Hiccup, everyone agreed to go except for Alfred and Helena, Astrid's parents.

Gobber, Alfred and Helena aren't very happy at how the village treats Hiccup, knowing that he help design the houses and built all the weapons on Berk including the improvements to the catapults. He even made the ship masts more durable and less likely to snap under high winds.

 **Gobber's POV**

I'm about to get up to start packing when Stoick walks over saying, "I need you to stay behind to train some new recruits."

"Oh, perfect. And while I'm busy, Hiccup can cover for me at the stall with molten metal, razor sharp blades and lots of time to himself, what can possible go wrong?" I reply sarcastically knowing what will come next.

"What am I going to do with him Gobber?"Stoick asks.

"Put him in training with the others." I suggest.

"No, I'm serious." Stoick starts pacing the floor.

"So am I. You think that he would be killed before I let the first dragon out of it's cage, but believe me when I say this, he can take care of himself. And another thing is, you can't stop him, you can only prepare him. He looks hopeless but the truth is that you won't always be around to protect him. And I can bet you right now that he's out there right now."

I hope that gets into his thick skull of his. As he goes on about the story of splitting a rock in two with his head I think, 'Every time I see Hiccup step into the forge he changes from being an unsure person who gets bullied to a confident, more than capable fighter and great potential for becoming a great Chief.'

Well, it's time for me to get back to work, I hope Stoick listens to me.

 **Normal POV**

As Stoick gets ready with the search party, Hiccup is out searching for the Night Fury with Astrid tailing him, making sure he doesn't get hurt.

After an hour of searching, Hiccup is close to giving up, closing his book with the map of the area that he made. He takes a good look at the surrounding area and notices some trees broken like something big hit them.

He approaches the damaged trees cautiously when he notices claw marks on the trees. As he approaches the end of the trail, Hiccup can see a black dragon, one that has never been seen before. He assumes that it's the Night Fury he shot down. As he slowly approaches, it looked like it wasn't breathing.

When he gets close Hiccup puts a foot on the dragon as he says, "Oh wow. I did it. This fixes everything! Yes, I have brought down this mighty beast!"

When he does that the dragon shifts, pushing Hiccup back a bit, still very much alive, and quickly grabs his dagger from his belt, not expecting that it was still alive.

He tries to brace himself for the kill and remembers what his father said about not being a dragon killer and realizes that Gobber was right, even if he brought the head of the Night Fury to the village, people would be all over him and when he started making mistakes again, they would abandon him.

With that thought in mind, he looks into the dragon's eyes, which are now open, watching him, cautiously curious as to why the young Viking hasn't killed him yet. When Hiccup looked into the eyes of the Night Fury, he saw the fear caused by him and it made him feel like Snotlout, the feeling of power over others, and it was a horrible feeling.

It wasn't something he wanted to feel again. It felt so wrong to even consider hurting or killing something just because it was an unknown or just simply misunderstod.

Hiccup starts to walk away, feeling ashamed with himself, then he stops and looks back at the tied up Night Fury, deciding that he would free it.

Just as the bola loosens up, the Night Fury gets up and punces, pinning Hiccup against a rock. The dragon was growling and for a few quick seconds looks straight into Hiccup's eyes, then roars as loud as possible before it turns around and attempts to fly off, dissapearing into the forest.

 **Hiccup's POV**

When I cut the bola loose and the Night Fury pounced on me I thought, 'Great, I am going to die by the unholy offspring of lightning and death itself. Why did I think letting it go was a good idea?' But what happened next shocked me, instead of going for the kill like I thought all dragons are suppose to do, it just roars and takes off.

I slowly get up and put my dagger back on my belt, then I start to walk away before fainting from shock, falling flat on my face.

 **Astrid's POV**

When I finally caught up with Hiccup, I saw him walking towards the somewhat small black dragon. He apparently thought it was dead because he gets right up next to it and as he puts his foot on it he says, "Oh wow. I did it. This fixes everything! Yes, I have brought down this mighty beast!" I was shocked, that was the legendary Night Fury?!

I wanted to join him, but I held back from joining him, not wanting to startle him while next to the dragon.

As I watch him preparing himself to kill the dragon, I think ' This isn't him. He would never kill something unless it was in self defense, even then he would regret doing it.'

Apparently he was thinking along the same line of thoughts when I remembered what his dad said earlier "You are many things Hiccup, but a dragon killer isn't one of them." It's funny to think that his dad wants him to kill dragons, yet knows that he isn't a dragon killer. Talk about mixed messages.

I watch Hiccup turn around and starts to walk away, then of course he has to go do something crazy. He turned back and quickly cut the ropes to let the Night Fury go.

The next thing I know, Hiccup was pinned underneath the Night Fury, who was growling and when it reared back I thought 'This is it, my crazy boyfriend is going to get killed and right in front of me too.' What happened next completely threw my mind in a loop. It reared back and instead of it preparing to fire, it just roared in his face and took off into the forest.

I see Hiccup get up and put his dagger away and then after a few steps, he faints from shock causing him to fall flat on his face. 'Great, now I have to carry him back or just wait for him to recover.' I decided to carry him to a nearby stream and splashed some water on his face, causing him to sit up in surprise. He then says "What happened?"

"You found the Night Fury that you shot down, preparing yourself to kill it and then you decided to free it." I say bluntly.

"You saw that?" He pales, expecting me to get mad at him. Which I am, but right now I'm just happy he's still alive.

"Yeah I saw the whole thing. Lets go home, it's getting late and we can discuss this tomorrow." He calms down a bit and nods his head in agreement.

 **Normal POV**

The two teens then start to head home, not sure what to make out of today's event. When they reach the edge of the forest Astrid punches him in the shoulder saying, "That's for scaring me with that dragon." She then kissed him on the lips for a few seconds and then saying, "And that was for doing something that was so you."

Hiccup has his lopsided smile on his face and says, "Well, I will see you tomorrow milady." They both look at each other one last time, each one glad that they were still alive, and smiled, then they each go their separate way home.

When Hiccup arrived at his home he notices his dad sitting by the fire thinking about something. He attempts to sneak by to get to his bed when one of the steps made a slight groaning noise and his dad heard it and called him out.

 **Hiccup's POV**

Ah crap, I got caught. Well, might as well get this over and done with.

"Yes, dad?"

"I need to speak with you son."

Oh no, this can't be good.

"I am going on another nest search before the ice sets in and Gobber will be the acting Chief. Also you get your wish, dragon training, you start in the morning."

"Why can't I just work in the forge or help with repairs or better yet help the bakers?"

My dad tosses an axe at me and while I pretend to have a hard time holding it up he says "You will need this. I need you to stop acting like this and act like a true Viking because when you carry that axe, you carry all of us, which means you talk like us, you think like us and no more of this." He gestures at me at the last part.

"You just gestured to all of me." I know that by now he isn't listening to me.

"Deal?

"This conversation is very one-sided."

"Deal?!"

I sigh "Deal."

"Good. Train hard. I'll be back, probably."

"And I will be here, maybe." As I say this he leaves and starts walking towards the docks.

Well, I tried to be nice but him not listening to me is getting old. But as long as I can stay with Astrid and be teamed up with her I'll be fine, well for the most part.

 **Next Day Normal POV**

Hiccup wakes up as the sun rises and after washing his face with cold water, he goes and makes breakfast for himself before getting one of his practice swords from his closet. (Which are scimitars for now.) As he walks out of the house he sees Gobber leading the rest of the teens to the arena so he runs to catch up with the group.

"Welcome to dragon training." Gobber announces as he opens the gate of the kill ring.

All the teens walk towards the center of the ring and look around impressed and commenting on getting scars or some other form of pain, except for Hiccup.

Hiccup walks over to Astrid and whispers, "What do you think we should do?"

"We should just try to survive and please don't pretend that you can't lift anything, it might get you injured." Astrid replies.

"I can do that and I wasn't going to pretend to struggle with anything." Astrid throws a glare at him that says 'You better not.' Hiccup gulps then nods and they both get into position.

When Hiccup moves into position Tuffnut spots him and says "Great… who let him in?"

Gobber steps in before anyone says anything else, "Lets get started. The recruit who does best will earn the honor to killing their first dragon in front of the entire village."

Snotlout just had to say "Hiccup already killed a Night Fury so, does that disqualify him or..." The twins laugh at this then the three of them start to walk away with Tuffnut asking about getting transferred to another class with the cool Vikings.

All the while Astrid is having a hard time trying to not give them her death glare for making fun of Hiccup.

Fishlegs was debating with himself which group he was going to stay with, and decided that it was better to stick with Hiccup and Astrid, mainly because they don't tease him and they're friends, well secretly anyways.

Gobber walks over to Hiccup and Astrid and says, "It's time for you two to show what you can really do." Hiccup groans, he knew Gobber would try something like this.

"Behind these doors are just a few of the many species you will learn to fight. There's the Deadly Nadder." Gobber starts walking on front of the cages going in front of the Nadder's cage as he says this.

"Speed 8, Armor 16." Fishlegs starts spurting out dragon stats as Gobber announces each one.

"The Hideous Zippleback"

"Plus 11 stealth times two."

"The Monstrous Nightmare"

"Fire Power 15."

"The Terrible Terror."

"Attack 8, Venom 12."

By now Gobber is getting annoyed and yells "Will you stop that?!" Then he continues, "And the Gronkle."

Fishlegs whispers to Hiccup, "Jaw Strength 8."

Snotlout sees Gobber getting ready to release the Gronkle and shouts, "Woe woe wait, aren't you suppose to teach us first?!" Gobber grins at this along with Hiccup and Astrid.

"I believe on learning on the job." Then he releases the Gronkle from it's cage.

Gobber continues, "Today is about survival, if you get blasted, your dead. Quick what is the first thing your going to need?"

Tuffnut blurts out "A doctor?"

Fishlegs responds nervously "Plus 5 speed?"

Hiccup and Astrid say at the same time, "A shield!"

"Correct you two, a shield! Go!" Gobber approves of their answer. The teens all grab a shield and start running around. Then he continues, "Your most important piece of equipment is your shield. If you have to choose between a sword or a shield, pick the shield."

The twins pick the same shield and start fight over it and apparently the Gronkle had enough and shot their shield.

"Ruffnut, Tuffnut your out." says Gobber as he looks over at the dazed twins.

"What?" Both the twins say still dazed.

"Those shields are good for another thing, noise, makes lots of it to throw off a dragons aim." Hiccup, Astrid, Fishlegs and Snotlout start hitting their weapons on their shields and the Gronkle is visibly less stable and distracted.

Both Hiccup and Astrid look at each other and nod. They both run in opposite directions making the Gronkle even more confused. Then Gobber asks, "Each dragon has a limited number of shots. How many does a Gronkle have?"

Snotlout guesses, "Five?"

"No, six." Fishlegs corrects.

"Correct, it's six, that's enough for each one of you."

Fishlegs is about to protest when the Gronkle hits his shield and Gobber shouts, "Your out Fishlegs." While running around, Hiccup noticed that the Gronkle was only shooting the shields, not at the teens. 'I wonder why that is?' Hiccup thinks.

Hiccup then ducks under the weapons rack preparing for his next move, which was waiting for the Gronkle to target Snotlout and run out of shots.

Apparently Snotlout decided that it was a good time to flirt with Astrid while he was behind her getting ready to dodge the next shot from the Gronkle, "So anyway, I moved into my parents basement, you should come by and workout, you look like you work out." To Hiccup, Astrid was just about ready to throw up just at his voice, and it looked like the Gronkle was fed up with his voice too. "Snotlout, your out." Gobber says after the Gronkle shot his shield.

Hiccup runs out and stands next to Astrid, "Well, we survived this long. Who's next?"

Astrid looks at him and sarcastically says, "How about both of us?" They both then dodged a shot from the Gronkle. Astrid rolled towards the wall with the Gronkle right behind her and backed her against it she thought, 'Great, I'm going to die.' Both Gobber and Hiccup shout "Astrid!" Hiccup sees the fear in her eyes and starts running as fast as he can, hoping to get in front of Astrid in time.

As he gets close he grabs her hand, pulling her body against his, and blocks the blast from the Gronkle with his shield, saving both of them from a fiery death. After the dust settled down Gobber grabs the Gronkle with his hook hand and says, "That's six, get back to bed you overgrown sausage."

After putting the Gronkle in it's cage Gobber starts walking towards the other teens and said, "You'll get another chance, don't you worry. Remember, a dragon will always... always go for the kill."

Astrid then wraps her arms completely around Hiccup while putting her head on his chest and says "You mutton head, you could have gotten killed." Then I punch him in the shoulder "That's for risking your life and this" Astrid then kisses him on the lips, not caring about the others in the arena, "is for saving me."

All the other teens look gobsmacked, well except for Fishlegs, he was happy for them being together.

"All right everyone, go home and rest up. We got some more training to do tomorrow." Gobber says shooing them out of the arena.

All the while Snotlout was giving Hiccup his death glare, which Hiccup's response was a knowing smirk. Snotlout got even madder at this and stomps his way out of the arena.

"Well that's something I didn't think I would ever get to see, Snotlout being jealous of me." Hiccup says as he takes Astrid to his home to check for any injuries.

What he didn't see was Snotlout with his devious planning face, planning something that would hurt Hiccup the most.

 **Hiccup's POV**

What a bloody day. That was way to close, and with Astrid reviling that we're a couple, well lets just say that I know that Snotlout is probably planning to bully me or something. I'll just avoid him or if I have too I'll beat the snot out of him.

As we arrive at my house I make Astrid sit on a chair and start looking for any injuries.

After finding none we go up stairs and lay in my bed, just to relax when Astrid spoke up, "When Gobber said that all dragons go for the kill, why didn't the Night Fury try to kill you?"

I respond, "I really don't know. I saw the same thing with the Gronkle. It only shot at the shields. And it looked like it only wanted to scare you when it backed you against the wall. Why don't we head out tomorrow and see if we can find the Night Fury."

"I like that plan, it allows me to take a nap in your arms." Astrid then starts to get into a comfortable position, laying her head on my chest and then I saw that she fell asleep.

I start to think about the Night Fury just as I start to fall asleep. 'Let's hope that the Night Fury is still on the island. Maybe there is more to dragons then we thought and I won't stop till I find the answer.'

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 **Well that's it for chapter 2. Hope you enjoy it. See you next chapter.**

 **Remember that suggestions are welcomed!**


	3. More Training, Small Things Revealed

**HTTYD: Forging a Different Path Chapter 3**

 **I'm back with the next chapter of Forging a Different Path. Enjoy!**

* * *

 ** _Thanks everyone for your support! I had no idea that I would get such a response to this story. With_** ** _40_** ** _followers and 2_** ** _9_** ** _favorites, I basically started to freak out, not expecting people to jump at my story. Thanks for your support! Anyways, remember to leave a review and suggestions are welcomed._**

 ** _Thank you Marcus S. Lazarus for beta reading._**

"This is normal speech"

'This is normal thoughts'

 ** _This is dragon speech_**

 ** _This is dragon thoughts_**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own anything of Dream-works or HTTYD characters. I do own any OC's that might appear in this story,** **along with th** **e** **story** **itself**

* * *

 **Normal POV Late Afternoon**

Hiccup wakes up slowly, not too happy with the sun in his face. He was about to jump up out of bed when he felt something on his chest. When he looked down, a smile appeared on his face when he saw Astrid basically laying on top of him.

Then Astrid started to stir, apparently feeling him wake up and so he lightly kissed her forehead and said "Good Afternoon Milady, you have a good nap?"

She groggily replies "Yes I did, until my pillow decided to start moving and woke me up."

"Sorry. I was awoken by the sunlight hitting my face." He then realizes that they overslept.

"Wait a minute?! That means we've been asleep for five hours! The sun only comes in around five in the afternoon. So that means we skipped lunch and it's dinner time."

Astrid is wide awake at this point. "What?! Well that explains why I feel hungry. Let's go get dinner at my home with my parents."

Hiccup nods at the idea, "Good idea, everyone would probably surround us in the great hall. I'm not ready for that. Then tomorrow we can search for the Night Fury, after dragon training."

They both head over to Astrid's house and were greeted by her parents.

Helena asks "Where have you two been?"

Hiccup replies, "We went to my house after dragon training, the Gronkle almost got Astrid, so I took her there to check for any injuries and then we decided to take a nap. It was supposed to be only for a few hours, but ended up being five. Apparently dragon training took more out of us than expected."

"Really, what else happened? I saw Gobber earlier, he looked pleased with himself about something." Alfred asks.

Hiccup groans, then says "He apparently wanted Astrid and I to show off our skills and that we're a couple. Basically Astrid got cornered by the Gronkle and I ran in front of her with a shield just before the dragon fired. After that Gobber put up the Gronkle. I had pulled Astrid up against me when it fired. She then wrapped her hands around me, putting her head against my chest and complains about that I could have been killed. Then the normal punch and kiss routine followed."

Hiccup starts laughing and continues "You should've seen Snotlout's face, he was so mad. And the twins, well… they basically looked like fish out of water." They were all laughing now.

Alfred explains after calming down, "Well, it was going to happen sooner or later. Gobber wanted the others to know that you two are a couple long before dragon training, so that it doesn't look like Astrid is only your girlfriend because of your fame later on or vise versa."

Astrid thinks for a second, "That makes sense. It protects us from anyone saying that we're using each other."

"Correct." Alfred confirms.

Astrid's mother then asks "I assume your both came over here for dinner?" They both nod their heads. "Well it's not going to make itself, go get in there, I join you in a minute." At this, both Hiccup and Astrid start getting out the things needed for dinner.

* * *

Meanwhile, Snotlout was in the Great Hall eating, trying to come up with a plan to separate Hiccup from Astrid so that he could have her.

Then it hit him, if he wasn't able to take over Hiccup's position as Heir, he could get his dad Spitelout and uncle Stoick to force Hiccup into an arranged marriage with someone else from another tribe. Then Astrid would be forced to marry him. Now the problem is how to convince his dad and uncle.

Little did he know that Stoick had his own plans in store for Hiccup.

* * *

After dinner with the Hoffersons, Hiccup said his goodbyes and after giving Astrid a quick kiss to her forehead, he started to head home.

 **Hiccup's POV**

As I walked home I saw Snotlout coming from the Great Hall, thinking hard about something. Then he looked up and saw me, I was about to freak out when he gave his evil scheming face, I thought he was about to come over and beat me up, but instead he just walked home.

'Well that can't be good. If he's planning something, it's big enough that he passes a chance to bully me. I better be careful, Astrid should be too. I'll tell her in the morning.

 **Next Day**

I woke up with a start, sweating heavily. 'I didn't need to see Astrid's burnt corpse this morning. That's not a dream I want to have, ever. Yet I have it at least once a month.'

I shook my head to clear it and got up to look outside. I see that the sun was just appearing over the horizon.

I jump at hearing someone knocking at the door, and I'm greeted by Gobber, who looked slightly nervous "Good morning Hiccup. Glad to see you up and about this early."

I look at him with a slight glare, "Gobber, I am always up by this time. You know this. What do you need?"

"Ok ok, I need you help to setup for today's training. You won't need any weapons or shields, this test is about stamina. I'm going to see how long everyone will last and start from there." Gobber replies, giving in to my glare that I gave him.

I ask "So, how are you going to test our stamina?"

"By seeing how long you can run with a basket full of small rocks." I groan, he has got to be kidding right?

I look at him and see that he's being serious. "Alright, but don't try anything like yesterday or something will happen to you when you least expect it." Gobber tries to look innocent, but fails miserably and starts to gather the things needed for training.

I follow him and help get everything ready for today's training.

 **Normal POV**

It took Hiccup and Gobber an hour to fill the sacks with rocks along with some axes and targets used for ax throwing and archery. Apparently Gobber decided to add more stuff to practice with.

When they were done, Gobber went and gathered the rest of the teens.

Of course the usual was happening, Snotlout was still trying to hit on Astrid, responded by the usual twist of the wrist. And the twins were arguing about stupid things along with the banging of heads. Fishlegs on the other hand was just silently watching, which was something rare for him to do.

As they arrive, they see Hiccup standing up against a tree with sacks around him. Everyone except Astrid was nervous, they didn't like the look on Hiccup's face.

Astrid walks over to him and gives him a light kiss on the cheek "Good morning Hiccup."

Hiccup responds in kind "Good morning Milady. Ready for today's training?"

She looks inside the sacks "It's no different then our training." Everyone, except Gobber who had an idea of that they've been training, look shocked.

"I think you broke everyone Astrid." Hiccup says laughing, pointing at the other teens.

She looks at them and joins Hiccup's laughter.

Snotlout's face says 'There is no way he can carry a sack.'

The twins, well… they looked shocked and then continued on with their bickering.

Fishlegs looked impressed.

"Alright everyone, lets get started." Gobber announces, getting everyone's attention, then continues.

"Today is about testing your stamina. You will pick up a sack and run the course that Hiccup and I set up. Keep running till you can't run anymore. Hiccup here will be keeping track of how many laps you do, since he helped set this up for the last hour carrying sacks, axes and the targets." Hiccup was grinning at the end.

Astrid was wondering why he didn't join them in this exercise, now it made sense.

Snotlout wasn't happy that Hiccup was going to just watch them, he would get him back later.

Gobber then tells the teens "Ok everyone, line up in between the barrels and when I say go, you go."

"Ready. Set. GO!"

All the teens start and after 10 laps Fishlegs falls to the ground. Hiccup writes it down and then the twins fall over at 12 laps.

Snotlout is out of breath by the 17 lap and Hiccup writes it down.

Astrid stops at 19, just about ready to collapse.

"Well done Astrid, you were one lap way from passing this test. We will continue this until you can pass twenty laps." Gobber tells them.

He then continues, talking to Astrid "Come over here and keep track of how many laps Hiccup does, he got his rest."

Hiccup gets into position and goes when Gobber tells him to.

Snotlout watches Hiccup and can't believe that he lasted longer then he did.

Just as Hiccup is about to cross the line for his twentieth lap, he trips and falls on his face.

Snotlout and the twins bust out laughing.

Astrid goes and helps him up, glaring at the laughing trio.

"Alright then, Hiccup is tied with Astrid, Snotlout is third, Ruff and Tuff are fourth and Fishlegs is last." Gobber announces. "I will give you thirty minutes to rest up before we continue with today's training."

Hiccup says as Astrid helps him up "Thanks Astrid. I didn't see that root."

"No problem Hiccup. I'm just glad our training has paid off." Astrid smiles at him.

Hiccup then whispers to her "Watch out for Snotlout, it looks like he's planning something, and that's never a good sign." She nods, knowing full well how the last time went when Snotlout planned something.

 **Flashback 3 years ago**

It was about to snow very heavily and everyone was told to go to the Great Hall. Snotlout and the twins were planning a very nasty prank to play on Hiccup when it happened, so they continued to talk about their plans on the way to the Great Hall.

Unknown to them, Hiccup was right behind them, listening into their plans.

When everyone arrived at the Great Hall, the trio started to get the things needed for the prank. It was a few days before they were ready, because they had to wait for the storm to end.

Needless to say, their plan backfired, majorly, all because Hiccup had made a few adjustments to their plans.

The plan was supposed to get Hiccup into trouble, but he was able to lure Snotlout and the twins into their own trap. To Hiccup, it was the best day ever, all because no one blamed him for the damage caused to the Great Hall.

It's funny to think that was the only time that Snotlout planned something that big. Any other plans he had on that scale never got far enough before they fell apart, all because he would be caught out by some detail he'd forgotten earlier, for which Hiccup and Astrid were grateful.

 **End of Flashback**

They both look at each other and try to contain their laughter from the memory.

Gobber suddenly announces "Alright everyone, your 30 minutes are up. Time for the next training session." All the teens groan in complaint.

"So what we're going to do is this, everyone grab an ax and line up with the targets." Everyone gets into position and Gobber continues "Today will just be ax throwing, the next training session will involve questions while throwing your axes. I'll explain the rules next time."

It was around an hour later when they stopped, which was around noon, all to the relief of the teens.

"Good job Hiccup and Astrid, you both did well today. Snotlout, you did decent yourself, but word of advice, stop flirting with Astrid, you're distracting yourself. Fishlegs and the twins, we got a lot of work to do."

They all nod their heads at Gobber, who then continues "Well it's noon, you can all go and grab some lunch and return home for today."

Everyone grabs their stuff and head straight towards the Great Hall, hoping there's something good to eat.

Hiccup was quite happy that today was going good so far.

Astrid was proud that Hiccup was able to keep up with her in laps and ax throwing, which surprised her a bit. But that didn't really bother her, it just proves that their training was paying off.

Snotlout was pissed that Hiccup was better than him.

The twins really didn't care all too much, they were planing another prank with Silent Sven's sheep.

Fishlegs was a bit shocked that Hiccup was able to keep up with Astrid, he guessed that they have been training with each other for a while.

The teens went to the Great Hall and while Snotlout and the twins sat at one table near the fire pit, Hiccup, Astrid and Fishlegs sat at a table in the corner, away from everyone else.

 **Hiccup's POV Great Hall**

Man, today's training was exhausting. I'm glad that my stamina training has paid off, along with my ax throwing.

I pretty sure I saw Astrid a bit shocked when I kept up with her in points in ax throwing, that was always her strong point.

I sat down at the table and started to eat, making sure to keep an eye on Snotlout.

As I was eating Astrid, along with Fishlegs came and sat down at the table after grabbing their own lunches.

"Good job Hiccup. I knew that you've been working on your stamina, but your ax throwing is what shocked me a bit, I wasn't expecting that." Astrid says.

"Well thank you Milady, I've been working more on different weapons so if I had to I could use something else than my scimitars." I reply.

"Yeah, I need to expand my training to include other weapons too, I've neglected that part." Astrid looks a bit down after saying that.

"Don't worry, we're still training. We got plenty of time to work on it. Besides, I've only practiced throwing the ax. I haven't got the swinging part down yet. You're the best at that." I say, trying to cheer her up.

It works and she says with a smile on her face, "Thanks Hiccup."

I see that Fishlegs has been watching us, trying to figure out for how long we've been a couple, so I decided to ask.

"So Fishlegs, what are you thinking about?"

He starts to stutter "Oh, n-nothing. J-just enjoying the peace and quiet here." I know that's yak crap right there.

"Are you sure? It looked like you wanted to ask how long Astrid and I have been a couple." I knew I was correct when he sighed in defeat.

"Ok ok. I've been wanting to ask you for a while, but I didn't want to bother you about it."

Astrid looks at me with a question in her eyes saying 'Are you sure?'

I nodded and then said "We've been a couple since we were thirteen. We were best friends before that."

Apparently he wasn't expecting that. How do I know that? Well… for one, the completely wide-eye look. For two, the looking back and forth between me and Astrid in complete shock.

Astrid and I were trying are hardest not to laugh.

Key word here is trying.

And we failed miserably.

After a few minutes we calmed down, Fishlegs on the other hand was still in shock. So Astrid punched his shoulder 'lightly' and that brought him out of his shocked state.

"How in the world have you kept this a secret for this long?" He asks.

Astrid responds "We acted like we could barely stand each other in the village. Anywhere else we were ourselves."

"Wow." Is the only thing he could say at this point.

I get up and say "Well Fishlegs, we have some stuff we really have to do today, so we'll see you later at dinner. And don't tell Snotlout or the twins right now." He nods and Astrid gets up to follows me, knowing that we needed to track down that Night Fury.

 **Normal POV** **An Hour Later**

Hiccup and Astrid went back to the spot where the Night Fury crashed.

As Hiccup looks at the remains of the bola, Astrid is looking for any signs of a trail.

"Astrid, what do you think of the encounter we had with the Night Fury? Anything out of the ordinary?" Hiccup asks suddenly.

"Well... looking back, it looked like it was ready to die when you held your dagger up, preparing to kill it when you stopped and looked into the dragon's eye. After that you started to walk away before running over and freeing it. What did you see in the Night Fury's eye that made you not kill it?" She responded.

He looks at Astrid "At first I was prepared to kill it, then I thought back to what my dad and Gobber said about me not being a dragon killer along with if I did kill it, I would only have the respect of the village for a short time before they abandon me again for making mistakes. And when I looked into it's eye, I saw myself. It was like I was Snotlout and was about to beat someone up just because I had the power to do it. I was so ashamed of myself for falling to Snotlout's level. So I started to walk away and then looked back, it was wrong for me to leave it to die, so I freed it and you know the rest."

Astrid hugged him and said "You did the right thing, Hiccup. I know I would've killed it without any second thought, but you showed it mercy and in return it gave you mercy. Which was something I didn't expect." Hiccup smiles.

Hiccup then looks at her "You know… that roar was probably a warning to leave it alone, you don't have to-"

Astrid cuts him off, knowing what he was going to say "Hiccup, if you're going to try and find that dragon to study it more closely, I'm going to be there, by your side as always."

"Thanks Astrid, I needed to hear that." He then looks at her and gives her a quick kiss. "And thank you for being at my side, always giving your support. I don't know what I would be without you."

"I don't know, but everything would probably be worse than it is now. Now let's get a move on before it gets dark." Hiccup nods and they both continue their search, following the direction that they saw the Night Fury go.

A few minutes later they come across a familiar path. They both looked at each other and said at the same time "Our cove!"

They rush towards the cove and when they arrive they see that everything is still intact.

"Well I guess we we're..." Hiccup gets cut off by the Night Fury trying to climb out of the cove right in front of them.

Hiccup has a grin on his face, excited to see the Night Fury again.

Astrid on the other hand was a bit nervous upon seeing the dragon again.

'Well it can't get to us, so we're safe for now.' She thinks.

Astrid watches Hiccup draw the outline of the dragon in his journal, once again catching it perfectly.

Hiccup then asks "Why don't you just fly away?"

She looks at the dragon again and sees that it's missing a tail fin.

"Hiccup, it's missing it's left tail fin. Apparently it can't fly away without both tail fins." She whispers.

He corrects his picture and sees what Astrid was talking about.

The Night Fury gives up trying to fly out and goes down to the pond that's in the cove. After a few minutes of trying to catch some fish it gives up, feeling weakened.

Hiccup feels bad for the dragon, knowing what it feels like to feel weak from hunger.

As he his thinking this he lets go of his charcoal pencil and it rolls into the cove, attracting the Night Fury's attention.

They both look at each other and when Hiccup tilted his head the dragon copied, trying to understand why the young Viking is back.

Astrid then says looking at the sky "It's getting late, we need to get to the Great Hall." He looks up confirming what she said and nods. They both leave, thinking about the dragon in their cove.

 **The Night Fury's POV**

When I noticed the young Viking and his mate I assume, he didn't look scared, just curious. His mate on the other hand looked nervous, but shared his curiosity. I realized this was the same human that freed me from that rope thing.

We both held a stare for a while, curious as to what the other was doing, and his mate then looked up and said something. That's when the young Viking looked up, nodded and got up to leave.

I'm was surprised that he was brave enough to come back after my warning.

I need to think about this, but after I get some sleep.

 **Normal POV**

Both Hiccup and Astrid's raced to the Great Hall, trying to get inside before they got completely soaked by the storm that decided to appeared out of nowhere.

They sit at a table that's near the fire pit, after grabbing their dinner and that's when they overhear Gobber asking how Snotlout did in ring.

Astrid decides to answer, startling the other teens "He was doing fine until he decided to start flirting with me, that's when he got distracted and got knocked out."

Gobber confirms what Astrid said, "She's right, getting distracted is a guaranteed way of getting yourself or others killed." He then continues "Alright, where did Astrid go wrong in ring today?"

Hiccup replies "She mistimed her somersault dive, it was a little sloppy and it threw off her reversed tumble. Other than that, she did fine."

The others look at him with shocked faces, not expecting Hiccup to comment, especially about Astrid's performance in the ring.

Astrid looks at him with a fake scowl, pretending to be mad at him. He gulps but sees the smile in her eyes so he just plays along with it.

They both know it's really hard to do that somersault dive with the shield, it throws off your balance.

Snotlout and the twins snicker at the look of Hiccup's fake panicking face, until Astrid looked at them with her well known death glare. They all gulped and looked away.

Gobber then breaks the silence "Your right, it's not easy to do that somersault with a shield." Then looks at Hiccup, "Where did Hiccup go wrong?"

Hiccup glares at Gobber, he just gave them an opening to insult him.

"He showed up." Is Ruffnut's response.

"He didn't get eaten." Tuffnut continues.

Snotlout decides to join in "He's never where he should be."

Astrid glares at them "That's not true! He was exactly where he needed to be, he lasted longer than any of you and saved my life."

"Thank you Astrid." Gobber then starts walking towards the table that Hiccup and Astrid are sitting at, and while passing the trio, he hits their backs for their incorrect answers, and continues "You need to live and breath this stuff. The Dragon Manual, everything we know about every dragon we know of." He then looks up at the sound of thunder. "No attacks tonight, study up. I'll see you after lunch tomorrow in the ring." Gobber then walks out of the Great Hall.

Tuffnut is the first to object "Wait, you mean read?"

Ruffnut continues her brother's protest "While we're still alive?"

Snotlout joins in "Why read words when you can just kill the stuff that the words tell you stuff about."

Fishlegs starts to get really excited, wanting to share his knowledge "I've read it like seven times, there's this water dragon that sprays boiling water at your face, an-and then's there's this other one that buries itself really-"

Tuffnut cuts him off "Great. There was a chance I was going to read that-"

"But now..." Ruffnut finishes.

Snotlout cuts in "You guys read, I'll go kill stuff."

The three other teens leave with Fishlegs following them, still talking about the different types of dragons.

"Well, it looks like we get to share." Astrid says to Hiccup.

"Yep, and we get to keep it to ourselves. Let's go to my house and we can read it there." Hiccup suggests.

At Hiccup's House a few minutes later

"Well, let's see what we got here." Hiccup says, putting the book on the desk in his room.

They open it up and Hiccup reads out the different classification of dragons "Strike class, Fear class, Mystery class." He then turns the page and Astrid reads out,

"Thunderdrum, this reclusive dragon lives inhabits sea caves and dark tide pools, when startled it produces a concussive sound that can kill a man at close range. Extremely dangerous, kill on site."

"Wow that sounds pleasant." Hiccup says sarcastically.

He then turned to the next page and read "Timberjack, this gigantic creature has razor sharp wings that can slice thru full grown trees, extremely dangerous, kill on site."

"Scauldren, sprays scalding water at it's victims, extremely dangerous-" Thunder suddenly erupts, cutting off Hiccup and startling the two teens.

Hiccup then continues, searching thru the book, looking for the Night Fury's page.

When he reaches it he reads "Night Fury, speed unknown, size unknown. The unholy offspring of lightning and death itself. Never engage this dragon. Your only chance, hid and pray that it does not find you." Hiccup then pulls out his journal and opens it up to the sketch of the Night Fury, putting it on the dragon manual.

Astrid is the first to speak up "That's pretty crazy, now I know why everyone is afraid of it."

Hiccup continues "I can't believe that we're the only ones to see this dragon and survive. When we go back, we're going to be extremely cautious. I don't want to become it's lunch." He starts to think for a minute, trying to come up with a plan when Astrid says "Maybe we can ask Gobber tomorrow, maybe he has more information." Hiccup nods in agreement.

He then says "Well, it's getting late. We're going to need all the sleep we can get for tomorrow's training. I think that we'll be against the Deadly Nadder."

Astrid hums in agreement, then yawns "Alright sleepy head, lets go to bed."

Hiccup drags her to his room and they both take off their armor along with their boots. When they're done they fell onto the bed and fell asleep.

* * *

 ** _Well that's it for chapter three of Forging a Different Path._**

 ** _I will for sure add some background history to this story soon. It's just taking a bit longer to come up with it._**

 ** _Anyways, please leave a review and remember that any suggestions for the story are appreciated._**

 ** _See you next chapter!_**


	4. Our Past Defines our Future

**HTTYD: Forging a Different Path Chapter 4: Our Past Defines our Future**

* * *

 **Enjoy the chapter!**

 _ **This chapter is going to be mainly about the**_ _ **background history of**_ _ **Hiccup and Astrid. It will**_ _ **show why this story is taking the path that it is.**_

 _ **Anyways, remember to leave a review and suggestions are welcomed.**_

 _ **Thank you Marcus S. Lazarus for taking the time to beta read for me.**_

 _Words written in Italics are dreams, visions_ _and/or letters._

"This is normal speech"

'This is normal thoughts'

 _"This is dragon speech"_

 _' This is dragon thought'_

 **Disclaimer: I do not own anything of Dream-works or HTTYD characters. I do own any OC's that might appear in this story, along with the** **story itself.**

* * *

 **Next Morning** **Normal POV**

Hiccup and Astrid were the first to wake up to the clear sunny skies, something that isn't seen very often on Berk.

Hiccup was the first one to jump out of bed, excited to enjoy the nice day. Astrid on the other hand wasn't too happy to wake up so early, she was not a morning person. Besides, she rather spend time with Hiccup in bed, where she would be warm.

After a few minutes grumbling about it being too early, she too got out of bed. After putting on her armor on, she went down stairs and was greeted with the pleasant smell of breakfast, courtesy of Hiccup.

Hiccup sees her coming down from his room "Good Morning Milady, would you like to join me for breakfast?"

Astrid looks at what's on table and smiles "I would love to join you for breakfast. It's seem like you made my favorite."

Hiccup smiles "Of course I did, it's been a while since the last time we enjoyed a good breakfast here at my house together."

As they enjoy their breakfast Hiccup asks "Hey Astrid, what do you think of doing some sparring in the woods before dragon training?"

Astrid smiles at the suggestion "Sure Hiccup, it's been a while. Dragon training has completely thrown off our routine, it's very annoying." Hiccup nods in agreement.

"Great, lets warm up and go to your favorite ax throwing spot, it's clear enough for us to spar."

They both finish breakfast and grab their practice weapons, then headed out into the woods to enjoy a long overdue sparring match.

* * *

 **Out at sea with the search party**

Meanwhile, Stoick and everyone else in the search party had already eaten breakfast and where making their way to an island just a few hours away from the nest.

Spitelout nods and asks "What is this Chief business, if I may ask?"

Stoick looks over at him "Well, do you remember the Dark Raven tribe?"

Spitelout thinks about it for a sec "Aye, they've attempted to to raid us for years, but that stopped around when Hiccup was born, am I right?"

Stoick nods in confirmation "Well, you see when Hiccup was born, not to long after they last raided, I sent a message to Chief Mangus, who had a daughter not to long afterwards, and so when the next Thing came around we came to an agreement. We signed a contract between us that states that Hiccup and his daughter Brynhild, would marry when they came of age. As a result of the marriage, we would become allies." Stoick then sighs "During the last five years I have seen Brynhild at the Thing and she has a fierce personality, she's smart and she has the potential of becoming a beautiful woman. Also, I hope that it would toughen Hiccup up enough for when he becomes Chief."

Spitelout then ask out of the blue "What of Astrid Hofferson, she could do the same thing. Is there another reason?"

Stoick sighs again "I know, but we need allies to help take out the nest once and for all. And with this marriage we could do exactly that."

"Does Hiccup know about this?" Spitelout asks.

"No he doesn't, I will tell him when we get back."

Spitelout nods his head in agreement "Alright, have a safe trip."

Stoick then gets on the lead ship and calls out to Spitelout "I'll be about a week, Spitelout is in command till I return."

Everyone call out "Alright Chief."

And with that Stoick with his crew heads towards the island of the Dark Raven Tribe.

* * *

 **Back on Berk**

After an hour of non-stop sparring, Hiccup and Astrid decided to call it a day, not wanting to be too exhausted for dragon training.

They then walk over to a specific oak tree, one that had their special mark on it, and they sat down underneath it.

Hiccup then looks over at Astrid "Remember the first time we found this place?" Astrid nods.

 **Flashback Nine Years ago**

 _It had been a clear sunny day, which everyone was_ _quite surprised at, and everyone was making use of the day to get stuff they wouldn't normally get done at this time of year._

 _It also was the day that Finn Hofferson had decided to take Hiccup and Astrid out into the woods. He hoped that they could find a clear spot inside the forest so that he could begin training them in the basics of fighting._

 _Finn then looks over at the pair, the three of them were taking a break, when Hiccup apparently decided to go towards a patch of flower_ _s._ _He silently laughs, the patch of flowers were Astrid flowers._

 _Hiccup picks one up and brings it to Astrid, who accepts the flower by giving Hiccup a hug. She had been watching him while eating some of the snacks that Finn had brought along._

 _Finn then gets up "Alright you two, time to get a move on."_

 _Hiccup looks up at him "What are we looking for?"_

 _Finn gets on his knee, looking a Hiccup in the eye "We're looking for a spot so I can begin training you and Astrid."_

 _Astrid starts jumping around in excitement. She has been wanting to train for a while now._

 _Hiccup on the other hand isn't to trilled with the idea, him and sharp objects didn't seem to mix to well._

 _Finn looks at the two of them, after getting up from his knee_ _I_ _wanted to train you two myself, mainly for self-defense. I have your parents permission, Astrid. Hiccup, your father didn't give his permission so I have to go behind his back, it will be for the best, especially since your the heir. You need to know how to defend yourself from others. Once you learn that fairly well, we'll start on the different forms of attack. But that's for later. Right now we need a secret spot to train, so… do you want to help?" Astrid nods her head, Hiccup is a bit hesitant._

 _At seeing his hesitation, Finn puts a hand on Hiccup's shoulder "Hiccup, it'll be fine. You will learn how to defend yourself, you'll get stronger, faster and it will enable you to do stuff that even Snotlout can't do." Hiccup's eyes light up, he was always being shown up by Snotlout._

 _Hiccup then nods his head "Alright, lets get going. I have an idea where to look." Finn says._

 _They continue the search for another hour when they come across_ _an opening in the trees. It was a nice big open area, with plenty of room that was needed for their training._

 _Finn looks around "What do you two think of this place?" They both nod their heads._

 _Hiccup's stomach then growls, He look_ _ed_ _sheepish while Astrid_ _wa_ _s laughing her head off, until her stomach decided that it too was hungry._ _They all started to laugh and_ _Finn took it as a signal that it was lunch time._

 _After lunch, they did some some basic_ _exercise_ _s_ _and_ _a little_ _dagger throwing._ _When they were done, Finn noticed that it was getting late. "Good job you two, you did pretty good for your first day. But it's getting late, lets head home." Hiccup and Astrid sigh, they wanted to keep going but didn't argue._

 _When they reach Hiccup's house Finn looks at Hiccup and whispers into his ear "We'll go out after tomorrow and continue your training. Just don't tell your father."_

 _Hiccup nods, a smile on his face "I won't, and thanks for bringing me along. Nobody has done it for a while."_

 _Finn returns the smile, then takes Astrid home and enjoys the evening with his family._

 _ **Several Months Later**_

 _Several months had past since Hiccup and Astrid started their training,_ _and t_ _hey_ _had learned fast. After the first month, they could already throw their daggers good enough that even Finn was impressed._

 _They_ _had_ _moved on to blunt wood weapons, apparently Hiccup was quite skilled with a sword_ _using_ _his left hand,_ _while Astrid_ _was a natural with a_ _Battle ax, much like her uncle._

 _The dragons continued to raid, but is was only once or twice a month, so it didn't affect the Berk to much._

 _One day during training Hiccup asked "Finn, why do the dragons raid us?" It was a simple question, but no one knew the answer to it._

" _Well Hiccup, I don't know. No one really knows why they raid, all we can do it fight them off while trying to keep our food." Finn replies._

 _It was getting late and Gobber had told Stoick to expect a raid any day. Stoick then announced it after all the children were put in bed._

 _The next day is when the raid happened, and Stoick was grateful that Gobber was correct this time._

 _There were a few times where Gobber was off a week or so, and it didn't go very well. Nobody blamed Gobber though, those beasts were unpredictable._

 _Hiccup by this time was Gobber's apprentice in the forge._ _Stoick had put him there so he would stay out of trouble. Of course Hiccup didn't know that, he had always wanted to work in the forge, the stuff Gobber made fascinated him._

 _Astrid was always by his side, watching him as he did some of the smaller tasks that Gobber assigned him. She too was fascinated by Gobber's abilities of making a hunk of metal into some weapon or tool._

 _The raid wasn't to bad, they lost only a little bit of their animals and fish, but that was it. It was one of the easier raids for Berk._

 _It was less then a month after that raid when_ _tragedy struck the Hofferson's._

 _It was nearing the time of Aurvandil's Fire, an event that had everyone hiding in their homes._

 _T_ _he reason for this was the Flightmare, a dragon who fr_ _oze_ _people_ _in_ _fear_ _and has killed many people,_ _even going as far_ _as coming into and attacking the_ _village_ _._ _It was a very fierce dragon, many people feared it, even more_ _so_ _then the Night Fury._

 _Many have tried to kill it in the past, and all attempts have failed._

 _Th_ _e only_ _problem is that it only_ _appear_ _ed_ _when_ _Aurvandil's Fire_ _happened_ _,_ _which was every ten years._

 _Finn Hofferson had been preparing for this event for years, wanting to get rid of the beast that caused even the bravest Vikings to_ _cower in fear_ _._

 _Everyone was expecting the Fearless Finn Hofferson to win this battle, knowing that he was fearless and the Flightmare could only freeze someone if they feared something._

 _Finn was getting ready to leave the Hofferson's house when he felt something tug on his pants. He looked down and saw Astrid "What are you doing my little warrior?"_

 _Astrid looked him in the eye "I want to come with you."_

 _He looked at her "I'm sorry Astrid, but this is my fight." He then gets on one knee "I know you want to come, but I need you to stay behind and keep training with Hiccup. I am very proud of the progress you two have made. I will try my best to return, but promise me that you will back were you are safe." Astrid is crying at this point._

 _She then nods_ _"Ok Uncle Finn, just promise me that you will return."_

 _Finn about to respond when they hear a roar in the distance._

 _He then gives Astrid a hug and says "I'll be fine my brave little warrior_ _and_ _remember this,_ _I love you and always will be with you in your heart_ _no matter what happens."_

 _He then gets up, hugs Helena his sister, who was also crying softly, then gives Alfred a firm handshake. After that he leaves the house, unknowingly going to his final battle._

 _Astrid went to her room, she was determined to join her uncle, so she grabbed her new ax that Finn had gotten her, it was a blunt stone ax and she quietly climbed down from her window._

 _Hiccup was watching out his little escape hatch the he had made and saw Astrid with her ax, going in the direction that her uncle went._

 _He knew that she wasn't suppose to_ _be out_ _, so he grabbed his new stone sword and went after her, not wanting her to_ _do something she would regret_

 _When Hiccup caught up with her they had_ _reached the a clearing, right next to the river which was glowing. That's when they saw Finn Hofferson, who then yelled out "_ _Here I am, ungodly beast! Fearless Finn Hofferson! I've been waiting ten years for this moment. Come and get me, if you dare!"_

 _Hiccup had dragged Astrid behind a bush_ _at that point._ _Astrid wasn't to pleased that Hiccup was keeping her back_ _from joining her uncle._

 _Th_ _at's when the_ _Flightmare swooped down and froze Finn Hofferson. The people that were_ _still outside saw it and were shocked, Hofferson's were known to be fearless. Then Flightmare swooped down again and grabbed him into it's claws. That was the last time everyone saw of Fearless Finn Hofferson, the sight of him being grabbed and flown away from Berk, never to return._

 _Hiccup was scared, the same thing happened to his mother and even though he didn't remember what she looked like, he did remember seeing the dragon take her._ _He knew that Astrid would try to isolate herself,_ _like he did when his father told him about it,_ _but he wasn't going to let that happen._

 _Astrid was crying, not believing what she saw. She then felt arms wrap around her, she looked up and saw Hiccup there, trying to comfort her. She then hugged him back hard, thankful that he was here with her and kept her from joining her uncle, protecting her from her uncle's fate._

 _Hiccup slowly brought her back home, where her parents were freaking out that Astrid wasn't in her room. When they saw Hiccup open the door with Astrid holding on to him, they knew that she saw what happen and brought them into a hug. That's when Astrid's father picked her up and took her to bed, but not before she asked if Hiccup could stay with her. They agreed, and while Hiccup was following Alfred to Astrid's room,_ _Helena went to Stoick and explained_ _through her tears at_ _what had happened._

 _He was shocked at what she had told him._ _He agreed to let Hiccup stay over at the Hofferson's for the night. He would talk to Hiccup about it later._

 ** _The Next_ _Morning_**

 _When the morning came, Astrid's parents awoke, hoping that what had happened last night was just a dream. When they got up, they went to the room that Finn had slept in, and what they saw confirmed that it was true, Finn Hofferson was gone._

 _Helena started to cry, a bit harder than last night and Alfred did his best to comfort her._

 _They both went to Astrid's room,_ _checking_ _to see if Hiccup and Astrid were awake._ _What they saw was heart warming, Astrid was curled up in Hiccup's arms, seeking protection from the outside._

 _Hiccup then woke up, having heard the footsteps and looked up to see Astrid's parents standing there with a small smile on their faces. He then looked down at Astrid's seemingly vulnerable posture, which seemed to be asking him for protection._ _So he hugged her a bit tighter and saw a smile form on her face._

 _Astrid's parents then went down to make breakfast, knowing that Hiccup would take care of Astrid while she slept._

 _Astrid awoke to the smell of food,_ _and without delay her stomach growled at her, telling her that she was hungry._

 _She was about to get up when she felt something wrap around her, so she looked up and saw Hiccup looking at her with a smile on his face "Good morning Astrid. Are you hungry?"_ _She nods her head "Ok then, lets go downstairs."_

 _Hiccup then removed his hands from around Astrid, who was already missing the warmth, and got up from the bed. He then extends a hand and Astrid immediately grabs it. Hiccup pulls her up from her bed and brings her downstairs._

 _When they reach the table, they see the breakfast that Astrid's mother made, it was Astrid's favorite._

 _Astrid was about to head towards Finn's room when Hiccup pulled her back down and shook his head. She then knew that what had happened last night was no dream, but the sad reality that she would never see her uncle ever again._

 _She then wrap herself around Hiccup and started to cry, her parents came and joined in the hug, knowing that it was going to take time for her to heal from this._

 _After talking to her for a few minutes, effectively calming her down, they went back to the table and started to eat their breakfast._

 _As time went by, Astrid was able to recover from that horrible experience, and the only thing that kept her going was Hiccup. He was there when she needed him most, no matter what. Their where a few times were she wouldn't want anyone to get close to her, but Hiccup always managed to get to her, even doing things to calm her down that her parents weren't even aware of. For which her parents were very grateful for._

 _Hiccup and Astrid continued their training, and both were working as apprentices under Gobber, to which Gobber was thankful for. They both were a big help._

 _When Astrid turned ten, which was a month after Hiccup's birthday, she got her most favorite gift,_ _she received_ _her uncle's ax, which had been lost in the battle with the Flightmare._ _The Hofferson's were shocked,_ _t_ _hey_ _had_ _looked everywhere and never found it, yet here it was_ _in Hiccup's hand,_ _fully repaired._

 _Hiccup then told her, after receiving a bone crushing hug from Astrid_ _and a quick peck on the cheek_ _, that_ _a week ago_ _he_ _decided to go_ _back_ _to_ _the spot where Finn had fought the Flightmare,_ _wanting to see if he could find it before Astrid's birthday_ _and after a few days of searching, he_ _had_ _found it on the ground, just laying there in some underbrush._

 _He then told her that the whole time after he found it, he had worked hard at bringing it back to it's former glory,_ _spending whole nights working on it._

 _The Hofferson's thanked him for finding and fixing Finn's ax. Hiccup told them it was the least he could do._

 _One day, several years later, and having to hide their friendship from the tribe to protect Astrid's reputation, much to her dislike,_ _Hiccup was taking her to a spot he said he discovered._ _It was just a few days after her thirteenth birthday._

" _How much farther is this spot Hiccup?" She asks._

" _Not that much farther,_ _just_ _a few more minutes Astrid." Hiccup replies._

 _A few minutes later they come across an entrance. Hiccup then spoke up "I found this a few days ago while exploring." After they go thru the entrance Astrid gasps, there was a hidden cove here with a lake, a cave and much more._

" _This place is amazing!" Astrid exclaims._

" _Yeah it is." He then looks at her "I'm sorry I could bring you anything for your birthday."_

 _Astrid hugs him "I think that you showing me this is a gift in itself, thank you Hiccup."_

" _Your welcome Astrid. I also was going to ask you something."_ _Astrid does a 'go on' gesture "Astrid Hofferson, will you be my girlfriend?"_

 _She hits him on the shoulder "That's for taking so long to ask." Then she gives him a quick kiss on the lips "And that's my answer."_

 _Hiccup looked dazed for a sec "Wow, now I feel like a stupid idiot."_

 _Astrid's hugs him with a big smile on her face "But your my stupid idiot."_

 _They enjoy each others company in the cove for the rest of the day, agreeing that they will never tell anyone about their special cove._

 **End of Flashback**

Both Hiccup and Astrid have smiles on their faces at the last memory.

Astrid then sighs "I miss Uncle Finn."

Hiccup pulls her into a hug and kisses her forehead. "I know, I miss him too. All we can do is honor his legacy, no matter what anyone else says about him." Astrid smiles "Thanks Hiccup."

Hiccup then looks up, it's about noon. "It's lunch time Astrid, we need to head back."

Astrid gets up, Hiccup following her "Ok then, lets get lunch, then dragon training her we come, because getting blasted by dragons is so much fun." She says sarcastically.

They then both bust out laughing "I think you hit that right on the head." Hiccup said thru his laughing.

They headed back to the Great Hall, ate some lunch and then Gobber gathered the teens up to take them to the arena, making sure that the twins wouldn't sneak off to do one of their pranks.

"Today is all about attack!" Gobber shouts into the arena, as he releases the Nadder, starting today's training session. He had set up a maze of wooden walls in the arena for today's lesson.

Gobber then announces the purpose of today's training "Nadders are quick and light on their feet, your job is to quicker and lighter."

The Nadder hops on top of a wall and spots Fishlegs, who is running for dear life. The Nadder then shoots some of it's paralyzing spikes from it's tail at Fishlegs.

"I'm really beginning to question your teaching methods!" Fishlegs shouts at Gobber when the Nadder shot it's tail spikes at him.

Gobber looks on, looking quite bored at the situation. Then gives some basic advice "Look for it's blind spot, every dragon has one, find it, hide in it, and strike."

The twins ran in front of the Nadder, who was chasing Fishlegs, and inadvertently got into the Nadder's blind spot. Of course, the twin being themselves started to fight about Tuffnut's smell, and the dragon hears them, firing a blast at them to which they managed to dodge last second.

Gobber comments "Blind spot yes, deaf spot… not so much." He chuckles at the teens, enjoying every moment of entertainment that his teaching methods produce.

Hiccup and Astrid were running around the arena, with Snotlout following them to their dismay, and were trying to figure out a plan on how to take down the Nadder.

Hiccup really wanted to ask Gobber about Night Furies, but knew would be a really bad timing and could get him killed.

They then hid behind a wall, with the Nadder on the other side, and knew what to do.

Astrid went first, Snotlout right behind her and Hiccup followed, unfortunately the Nadder noticed Hiccup at the last second and jumped on the wall to chase after him.

It then hopped over to where Hiccup was going and ran into Astrid and Snotlout.

Astrid was about to throw her ax at the Nadder when Snotlout pushed her off to the side "Watch out babe, I'll take care of this" trying to impress her and threw his mace at the dragon, which went wide and completely missed the Nadder. The dragon seemed to laugh at him while Astrid threw a glare at Snotlout before running off, to which Snotlout, who was blaming the sun for his bad aim, continued to follow her at a safe distance.

The Nadder then went after Astrid, who had run into Hiccup and they both ran from the dragon. It had crashed into a wall and was dazed for a second, before going after them again.

The Nadder was going crazy at this point and forced Hiccup to split away from Astrid yet again, and he continued to run over to where Gobber was, preparing for Astrid to come his way, knowing that more than likely that that was her plan.

He watched the Nadder knock over all the walls, Astrid was only a second ahead of the dragon, barely avoiding it, when the rest of the teens rushed by. He saw Astrid on top of the walls, still avoiding the Nadder when he heard her cry out "HICCUP!" before falling from the wall.

He moved off to the side a bit and grabbed her before she slammed into the ground.

"Dropping in Milady?" Hiccup asks playfully, having a big smile on his face.

She lightly punches him in the arm.

They both hear Tuffnut call out "Oooh! Love on the battlefield!"

Ruffnut comments "She could do better." Tuffnut's head nods in agreement.

Hiccup knew that was the wrong the to say in front of Astrid, and knew that the twins would pay for it soon.

Astrid was fuming. How dare she say she could do better, and they would pay for that comment.

The Nadder then squawks, getting up from underneath a wall, bringing the two teens attention back to their current situation.

They both start banging their weapons against their shields, causing the Nadder to get disorientated and then Hiccup moves up right next to Nadder and slams his shield against it's head, causing it to take a few steps back and backs down from the fight, going back towards it's cage.

Gobber then calls out "Good job Hiccup. Alright-y then, that's it for today, go home and rest up." As the teens start to leave he says "Oh, one more thing, we will meet up at the watch tower tonight."

Astrid then walks up to the twins, looking calm but with a meaningful glare, they both gulp and she gives them both a black eye for their rude comment. She then walks to Hiccup's side and walk out.

As Hiccup and Astrid walk up to Hiccup's house, she gives him a quick peck on the cheek "Thanks for keeping me from getting hurt, and nice job getting into the Nadder's blind spot."

He pulls her into a hug "Thanks Astrid. You know, I was getting worried when the Nadder went all crazy trying to get you. I was a bit surprised at how well you were jumping from wall to wall."

"I was too, but our training that we've been doing has involved training our balance, it's just been a while since we last practiced." She pauses for a second, then looks up at Hiccup "For a minute there I was actually scared that it would get me." Astrid admits.

"Well lets rest up a bit, then we can go check out the Night Fury. I have an idea that might keep it from hurting us." Hiccup opens the door to his home and grabbed some snacks before heading up into Hiccup's room.

Meanwhile Snotlout, who went up to the Great Hall to grab something to eat, decided to start his plan of telling people that Hiccup was already arranged to get married, and shouldn't even be around Astrid. Little did he know how right he was.

 **An Hour Later**

Hiccup and Astrid both had decided to take a quick nap before heading towards the cove.

On the way their, Hiccup was explaining his plan to Astrid, which involved a fish and a shield, which was currently in his hands.

"Alright, here's what we're going to do, I am going to go with the fish and shield into the cove and see how the Night Fury reacts." He then looks at Astrid "You will watch from the entrance, and if I need backup you can come down, but I got a feeling that won't happen."

"Alright Hiccup, but if you die, I will bring you back and kill you myself." She says in a threatening tone.

He gulps, not doubting her in the least.

"Alright, here we go." Hiccup says as he goes into the cove.

Right as Hiccup was entering the cove the shield go stuck and forced Hiccup to crawl underneath it. After he got up, he started walking slowly farther into the cove.

He hadn't seen the Night Fury yet, so he was wondering if it got out.

Astrid was very nervous about the whole thing, this was an unknown for both of them. She would have hesitated even thinking about going in the cove with the dragon around, yet Hiccup was in there, doing something that even the bravest Viking wouldn't dare do, trying to make friends with a dragon.

Hiccup heard a noise and turned around to see the Night Fury on top of a rock, studying him. So he held out the fish, hoping that it would take it as a peace offering.

When the dragon came down Astrid gasps, now getting an up close view of the deadliest dragon known to Vikings.

It slowly approached Hiccup and was about to grab the fish when it jumped back, Hiccup was confused for a second then realized why it had jumped back, it saw or smelled his dagger. So he slowly moved his hand towards the dagger and almost had it when the dragon growled, his hand instantly jerked back up, not wanting the dragon to think he was the enemy, so he tried again and when he had a hold on it, he drop it.

The dragon wasn't falling for it and so it moves his head in a way that Hiccup understands as farther away. So he picks it up with his foot and throws it into the lake.

The Night Fury's posture instantly changes from hostile to curious, so Hiccup offers the fish again, and when it was enough he said "Huh, toothless… I could've sworn you had..." The dragon's teeth unsheathed themselves and grabbed the fish out of Hiccup's hand. "Teeth..." Hiccup's finishes, he was shocked at how fast the Night Fury had grabbed the fish.

The dragon then started to search him, trying to see if he had anymore fish and slowly approaches Hiccup, sniffing him, and Hiccup starts walking backwards and stutters out "Uh, uh, no, no, no. I… I don't have any more." When he finished saying that, he had been pushed back against a rock. The night fury then rolled it's eyes back and regurgitates part of the fish back into Hiccup's lap, when it's done it sits down like a person.

Hiccup then straightens himself up, not knowing what the dragon was expecting of him.

The dragon had an expecting face on it, watching him closely. After a few awkward seconds, it looks at the fish and then back at Hiccup. He looks at the fish then looks back up at the Night Fury, he realizes that it wanted him to eat the fish and wasn't to thrilled with the idea.

Astrid saw the same thing and was like 'I hope he isn't going to do it, because if he does I will make sure he washes his mouth out before I kiss him again any time soon.'

Hiccup grimaced and was thinking 'You got to be kidding me! I guess I have to eat it to start gaining it trust. Astrid is for sure making me wash out my mouth, and I have to agree with her.' He then takes a bite out of the fish, and start chewing it slowly while making approving noises. He hoped that was all that was required of him, but of course it wasn't.

The dragon made a swallowing motion and Hiccup was like 'Come on' before attempting to swallow it, nearly having it come back up before forcing it back down.

Hiccup shivered in disgust. He then looked up at the night fury and it licked it lips, seeming to ask if it was good. He forced a smile and watched in interest as the dragon attempted to do the same. Hiccup starts to get up with his hand up, trying to touch the night fury and it wasn't having it. It snarled at him and then flew over to another spot in the cove.

Hiccup watches it shot a stream of fire on the ground before it laying down on the spot, attempting to get some rest.

The dragon then looked up at a bird with it's nest and watched fly away. As the night fury watched the bird fly over, it then looked down, seeing that Hiccup was right next to it.

Hiccup raises his hand to say hi, and it narrowed it's eyes before moving the tail in front of it's face, hiding it from view.

Hiccup attempts to get closer and touch the dragon. The night fury then lifts it's tail up, showing that it was still awake, startling Hiccup who then gets up and walks away, the dragon does the same.

Some times passes and the night fury had decided to take a nap, hanging upside down like a bat. Astrid had come down and joined Hiccup, watching him draw the dragon's face in the dirt.

The dragon had woken up by then and saw another person, the same person who was next to the small scrawny Viking the first time they saw each other.

At seeing Hiccup doing something in the dirt and curiosity winning over, the night fury walks over and looks over Hiccup's shoulder to see itself in the dirt. Hiccup stops for a second, looks over his shoulder and then continues to draw in the dirt, finishing the picture. Astrid also saw the dragon and glanced at it and saw it watching Hiccup closely for a minute before getting up, grabbing a branch and then coming back over and starts dragging the branch, making lines in the dirt.

Astrid backs up, not wanting to get in the way of the dragon and watches from atop a nearby rock.

Hiccup stays put, watching the night fury draw lines in the dirt. The dragon was drawing in circles and in the process the branch accidentally hits Hiccup in the head.

After it was done, the dragon nods it's head in satisfaction at it's work. Meanwhile Hiccup, gets up to get a better angle when he steps on a line on accident and the night fury snarls. Hiccup flinches and looks down to see that he had stepped on one of the lines and pulls his leg up. Wanting to test that it wasn't something else, Hiccup steps on it two more time, getting the same response and then steps over the line, gaining the dragon's approval.

As Hiccup moves around in a dance like fashion, getting closer and closer to the dragon. In the end Hiccup bumps into the night fury and steps back in shock. Astrid holds her breath while Hiccup looks up at the dragon and goes to touch it, but it starts to growl so Hiccup takes a leap of faith and turns his head away while offering his hand to the night fury.

A few seconds past, which felt like an eternity to Hiccup, before the dragon pushes it's nose against Hiccup's hand. Hiccup looks up slowly to see it before the dragon takes off to another part of the cove.

It was a few minutes before Astrid walked up to Hiccup, seeing that he was staying still and saw that he looking at his hand.

"What was that?" Astrid asks.

Hiccup got startled for a sec before seeing that it was just Astrid "I think we just bonded." He then looks at her "When we first found the night fury here and watched it, I felt a connection to him when I looked into it's eyes. It was weird and I didn't understand it, but now… now I do."

Astrid then asks "How do you know that it's a he, did you look..." Hiccup cuts her off, knowing what she was implying "No! That thought is more than disturbing Astrid."

"I was just asking." She says innocently, but has a big grin on her face.

He then looks up at the sky, and sees that it getting late "We need to head back and go meet up with everyone at the watch tower." Astrid looks up and nods her head in agreement.

And with that they start heading back towards the village, still thinking about what had just transpired in the cove.

* * *

 _ **That's it for chapter four.**_

 _ **Sorry that this chapter is a bit late, I had a hard time trying to put this together, but considering I typed most of this in the last 7 days I think I did pretty good.**_

 _ **Sorry for any errors in my writing, and it would be appreciated if you do find any errors to pm me about were the errors are. I'll fix them as soon as possible.**_

 _ **Anyways, see you next chapter!**_


	5. Time to Take Off!

**Thank you, everyone, for your reviews and support for this story!I also want to thank Marcus S. Lazarus and the new co-author for proofreading my story and helping me refine my ideas. (I will introduce the co-author next chapter if everything goes to plan.)**

 _Words written in Italics are dreams, visions, and letters._

"This is speech."

'This is thoughts'

 **Sorry for making everyone wait so long. I've had a major case of writer's block and lack of motivation to keep going, but with the release of RTTE Season 6 -Which was awesome by the way!- I regained some motivation. With that in mind, I'm trying to work on improving the quality of my writing. So I won't post as often.Another thing that has delayed me is after I wrote out the first version of chapter five, I found it rushed and nothing seemed to flow well, so I had to rewrite all of it. Three times I might add (Which was over 5k words.) So I hope this is better than my previous chapters. I will be cutting my chapters half as long to make it easier for me. (Sorry to everyone who was hoping for a longer chapter.)**

 **Also, on another note, I will release a teaser for my new story that I've been working on soon. It's called: The Price of Victory. Hopefully it lives up to its title.**

 **Anyways, sorry for the long author's note. Now hop onto your dragons and hold tight, because things are about to speed up! Enjoy the chapter!**

 **~End of A/N~**

When they finally appear on the watchtower, the smell of cooked chicken fills their noses, and Gobber is in the middle of one of his stories. Gobber is quick to spot the late couple and decides to have some fun with them, "Ah…Finally you two lovebirds decided to join us. I was wondering when you two would show yourselves. I was starting to think the two of you got lost in the woods." He suggestively moves his eyebrows, causing both to look down to see their slightly disheveled clothes and blush at the silent accusation. At least he wouldn't suspect anything about a particular black dragon.

He chuckles at their reaction before resuming his story, "Where was I… oh yes. And with one twist it took my hand and swallowed it whole. I saw the look on its face said, 'I was delicious.' The dragon must've passed the word because it wasn't a month before another one of them took my leg."

Hiccup and Astrid roll their eyes, Gobber had told them this story hundreds of times while they worked in the forge.

Fishlegs starts thinking out loud. "Isn't it weird to think that if your hand was inside of a dragon. Like if you were still in control of it, you could crush the dragon's heart or something." Everyone looked at him like he had grown a second head, causing to shrink back.

Snotlout was steaming about his failure in the ring. He was supposed to be the best student, not Hiccup! So, hoping to impress Gobber, he speaks up. "I swear I'm so angry right now! I'll get revenge for your beautiful hand and your beautiful foot. I'll chop off the legs of every dragon I fight…" He yanks a leg of his chicken for effect, "With my face!"

Both Hiccup and Astrid's faces grimace, their ideas of dragons had changed drastically during the last several days. That and the mental image of Snotlout's ugly face.

Gobber instantly reprimands Snotlout, brushing off his comment. "No, it's the wings and tails you want. If it can't fly, it can't get away. A downed dragon is a dead dragon."

Both Hiccup and Astrid's eyes went wide at the valuable information and glance at each other. Gobber's advice makes their stomachs turn in apprehension for Toothless. They need to get him back into the air as soon as possible. But the question is how?

Gobber suddenly yawns, bringing their attention back to him. "All right, I'm off to bed. You should be too because tomorrow we get to the big boys and slowly but surely make our way to the Monstrous Nightmare. But who will earn the honor of killing it?"

Hiccup's mind is reeling from Gobber's lesson until he takes a look at his mentor's prosthetics. That's when an idea hits him. He could create a prosthetic tail for Toothless!

The brilliant idea forces him to get up and run eagerly towards the forge. He was going to give Toothless back the very thing he took.

Astrid was quick to notice her boyfriend's actions and instantly goes after him. It would seem he had the solution to their dilemma.

Hiccup could barely keep his excitement contained; the idea is so simple! A prosthetic tail for his new dragonic friend!

When he reaches the bottom of the watchtower, he looks back and sees Astrid coming down the steps. Once she catches up, he takes hold of her hand and leads them towards the forge. When they finally arrive at the forge, Astrid asks, "Did you figure how to fix our new friend's problem?"

Hiccup nods his head as he grabs his notebook out of his fur vest. "Yeah, we can give Toothless back his flight by building a prosthetic fin, just like Gobber's hand and foot."

The idea was ingenious in itself, but this brought some confusion to Astrid -who is Toothless? Then it hits her; Hiccup was talking about the Night Fury! "I would never even connect the two. That's an amazing idea Hiccup! But why the name Toothless?" She questions.

Hiccup looks up from his notebook, having just redrawn the left tail fin on his drawing of Toothless. Realizing that he had just unintentionally named his dragon friend. "I don't know; it just seems appropriate considering he has retractable teeth."

Astrid shakes her head and smiles at the name. Only her boyfriend would come up with a name as silly as his. "Well… let's hope he likes it."

 **~Linebreak~**

Both teens had fallen asleep the second their heads hit the pillows. They had spent the majority of the night working hard creating the prosthetic. It wasn't an easy task, but they did it. The results were a fully functional prosthetic fin that Hiccup had folded up and put away on a shelf in the backroom. He hoped this invention would work and restore Toothless' ability to fly again.

The following morning came way too fast in Hiccup's opinion, but considering he frequently works on inventions late into the night; this was no surprise. As he attempts to get up out of bed, he felt something tightly wrapped around his torso. He didn't even need to look to know Astrid was holding him down. While he would love to lay there and watch her as she slept, his stomach was quick to remind him it was empty and needed him to eat.

After slowly unwrapping himself from her arms, he got up from the bed. But before leaving the room, he places a kiss on her forehead, making Astrid smile in her sleep.

After washing himself clean with a rag, he proceeded to make a modest breakfast for the two of them. As the food was cooking, his mind is working on a plan. The plan he had so far is to keep Toothless distracted with a basket of fish while he straps on the prosthetic. He hoped Toothless wouldn't take off while he was still on his tail, that would be bad.

Just as he finished preparing their breakfast, Astrid makes her appearance from the backroom, slowly making her way towards the table. Hiccup is trying his best not to laugh; her hair looked like a birds nest. "Good Morning, Milady. You're up early." He greets, having a slight teasing tone in his voice. Astrid mumbles out, "Good Morning" in response, making him chuckle. She isn't a morning person.

After finishing their breakfast and cleaning up after themselves, Astrid was fully awake and waiting for Hiccup to tell her his plan for the day.

"Alright, let's get going. We're going to see if the prosthetic fin fits Toothless properly. But before that, we're going to grab a basket of fish for him to eat. He should be distracted enough for me to attach the prosthetic. Hopefully, we should be done before dragon training if nothing goes wrong." Astrid nods her head in agreement, his plan seemed simple enough.

Hiccup goes to the back room and grabs the prosthetic. Hiccup then takes Astrid's hand and leaves the forge, heading towards one of the storage sheds. After grabbing a full basket of fish, they head towards the woods. Luckily, no one in the village has awakened due to how early it was, which was good -Because if anyone had spotted them, they would've been in significant trouble.

After walking on the path for a short while, they arrived at the edge of the cove. As Hiccup walks thru the entrance, he calls out in a sing-song voice, letting Toothless know they were here. "Hey, Toothless… I brought you some breakfast. I hope you're hungry." Astrid giggles at his antics; she never expected him to greet a dragon as if it was a daily routine.

The second they walked into the cove they were greeted by Toothless, who was bouncing up and down in excitement at Hiccup's arrival; along with the smell of fish.

Hiccup then drops the bag of fish onto the ground and tips it over with his foot, causing all the fish to spill out of the bag. Both teens shiver in disgust while Toothless is barely able to restrain himself from diving straight in. Astrid quickly passes the prosthetic over to Hiccup, before backing up to give the black dragon some space.

Hiccup, with his latest contraption in hand, decides to tell Toothless what was in the basket, hoping that it would keep him distracted. "I brought some salmon... Icelandic cod... and a whole smoked eel." At the sight of the eel, Toothless growls and backs up slowly when Hiccup picks it up, Toothless rears back and roars in fear.

Hiccup tries to calm him down, "It's okay, it's okay." He throws the eel towards Astrid's direction, agreeing with Toothless. "Yeah, I don't like eels either."

Once the eel is out of the pile, Toothless closes in on the bag of fish and starts chowing down. With the black dragon distracted, Hiccup walks towards the tail and attempts to attach the prosthetic, but Toothless is moving around too much.

After struggling for a few minutes, Hiccup finally straps the prosthetic into place. Making sure that it was correctly attached, he opens it up, and it looked almost identical to the other fin.

Unknown to him, Toothless felt the weight of his tail is back to normal, much to his surprise. With his tail restored, he raises his wings and prepares to take off. He's been dying to get back into the air.

Hiccup doesn't notice, still thinking of improvements he could work on.

Astrid, on the other hand, sees Toothless getting ready to take off and calls out a warning, "Hiccup, you might want to get off."

He is so deep in thought he doesn't hear her warning. Then suddenly Toothless snaps his massive wings and takes into the air, Hiccup still on his tail! Quickly wrapping his arms around Toothless' tail, he holds on tight for dear life.

Astrid tries to reach out and grab Hiccup but is too slow. However, she manages to catch the end of Toothless' tail. But she didn't have a lot to hold onto; so Astrid's hands slipped, causing her to fall into the lake below.


End file.
